Embodiments of the invention are related to the provision of telecommunication services, and in particular, to the provision of video and/or data services to a subscriber premises.
Internet Protocol-based television (“IPTV”) generally describes systems which deliver digital television and related services over a network infrastructure using a suite of protocols generally described by the term TCP/IP, and more generally referred to as Internet Protocol (“IP”). As with other types of television service provision, customers may have accounts which are linked to certain access rights, or entitlements. Using customer entitlements, service providers may mediate between the customers and the content providers to restrict or allow certain types of access, for example, by limiting availability, quality, or bandwidth of services. Further, service providers may be able to provide or limit additional services to customers based on a customer's entitlement by offering, for example, content storage or personalized services.
Many service providers issue entitlement keys to customers, which allow the service providers to associate customer accounts with customer entitlements. Typically, the entitlement keys are fixed to a location or a device, like a set-top box at the customer's home. As such, a customer's entitlements may only be available to that customer while at home, or in other limited circumstances.
There may be a general need in the art, therefore, for portable entitlement keys. Using portable entitlement keys, customers may be able to provide service providers with their entitlements without being restricted to substantially fixed locations or devices.